Freedom In The Church Of England (volume 21; V. 374); Six Sermons Suggested By The Voysey Judgment

Paperback | February 1, 2012

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This historic book may have numerous typos and missing text. Purchasers can download a free scanned copy of the original book (without typos) from the publisher. Not indexed. Not illustrated. 1871. Excerpt: ... THE LIBERTY OF BIBLICAL CRITICISM. Prove all things; hold fast that which is good.--1 Thess. v. 21. I Am going to-day to speak of the third point in the late Privy Council judgment which affects, or seems to affect, the position of a liberal clergyman in the Church of England. Some years ago, in the judgment pronounced in the case of the Essays and Reviews, a large freedom of interpretation and of criticism of the Bible was granted, or appeared to be granted, to the Church. That freedom was gratefully accepted, and freely used. The results have been remarkable. The Bible, approached in the same manner as we approach any other book, has gained in reality, in interest, and in power. Its human and its spiritual sides have both been brought into greater prominence. Its literary and intellectual interest has been more widely recognised. It has become not less the book of religious circles, but more the book of Humanity. And these gains have been in proportion to the loss of those mystical and infallible qualities which have been imputed to it in the past, and which had relegated it to a region in which all exercise of the reason upon it was pronounced either impious or dangerous. No true book suffers from being removed out of the misty valley of superstition and placed in the mountain air of honest enquiry, and the Bible is not less reverenced or loved by us, but more, now that wc have subjected it for some years to the ordinary critical tests. The pure gold of the book shines brighter, and is recognised more quickly, now that we try to separate it from the alloy; and the alloy itself has become interesting for its historical and human value. Formerly, when both were considered equally divine, both suffered from the confusion. It is easy to see what follows wh...